A/HRC/22/50/Add.2 63. The Special Rapporteur notes the important initiatives that Cameroon has taken in this area, notably with regard to zoning, improved transparency, regulation of the process for awarding forest exploitation rights, as well as the efforts made to combat corruption – which remains a major challenge. He also notes the beneficial effects of the tendering system on the amounts that companies are willing to pay to gain access to forests.30 However, he encourages the Government to continue to improve its policy on taxation of agricultural and forest concessions in order to optimize revenue from natural resources and ensure both that it matches the value of the resources being harnessed and that the resources are being sustainably managed. Cameroon has a set of agro-climatic conditions that are unique in Central Africa in terms of their suitability for oil palm cultivation, while the proximity of Douala port means that it costs less to harness forest resources than in other Central African countries where high transportation costs have a dampening effect on profits. Given these conditions, the Special Rapporteur finds it difficult to understand why Cameroon does not try to take full advantage of the exploitation of resources whose valueadded is taken by foreign groups which then expatriate their profits and engage in tax engineering and/or tax evasion, to minimize their tax burden, inter alia, by manipulating the prices of transfers to subsidiaries based in tax havens. 64. The Special Rapporteur notes that some stakeholders, notably the International Monetary Fund, recommend that Cameroon lower its taxes on the exploitation of natural resources, including forest resources. He disagrees entirely with this recommendation. Apart from the “race to the bottom” that this would trigger in the other countries of the Congo Basin, and the resulting loss of revenue for the State, there is no need to lower taxes in order to attract the main forestry companies (companies like Wijmar and Rougier operate in the country despite the current level of taxation). Such a measure would serve not only to attract companies that are less technically qualified and less concerned about the sustainable exploitation of the forests and respect for the rights of local communities, but also to accelerate the deforestation of tropical forests, which are slow to regenerate, and this when the true value of forests is better understood. In fact, most countries of the Congo Basin have raised forest taxes considerably over the past decade.31 The World Bank estimates that the tax rate has stabilized at an average of 19 per cent of company turnover.32 65. In this connection, the Special Rapporteur encourages Cameroon to learn from the experience with the Chad-Cameroon pipeline. Cameroon failed in its bid to have modifications made to the initial contract, the conditions of which (negotiated on the basis of the low price per barrel at the time) are extremely disadvantageous to Cameroon, with transit costs of only US$ 0.41 per barrel. The fact that the leases on agricultural concessions allow for the renegotiation of the annual royalty only every 15 years “by agreement between the parties” renders the clause a virtual dead letter. 66. Lastly, the Special Rapporteur notes that the Government is willing to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD), which offers compensation for forest conservation. He encourages the Government to explore the possibilities for funding forest conservation activities, and 30 31 32 16 See in particular: Observatory for the Forests of Central Africa (OFAC), The Forests of the Congo Basin – State of the Forest, 2010, p. 274. COMIFAC, Étude sur l’évaluation de la contribution des redevances forestières dans le développement socioéconomique des populations d’Afrique centrale (Study on the evaluation of the contribution of forest taxes to the socioeconomic development of the populations of Central Africa), Sub-regional summary report, Study presented at the 6th ordinary session of the COMIFAC Council of Ministers, Kinshasa, 8 November 2010. G. Topa, A. Karsenty, C. Megev and L. Debroux, 2010, op. cit., p. 77. GE.12-18864